You Found Me
by americanstalker
Summary: An old friend of Nick's from Dallas joins the team. Can she help heal the wounds of losing Warrick?


You Found Me

_An old friend of Nick's from Dallas joins the team. Can she help heal the wounds of losing Warrick?_

A week had passed since the funeral. Everyone was mourning Warrick still, but it was time to move on. Nick was most upset about it. His buddy, who he competed with on cases, but loved anyway, was gone. He truly felt lost. Grissom was gone, as was Sara, and now Warrick. However, he reunited with someone one night that would help him find his way again.

He thought he had seen a familiar face in the hallway that night. She was about 5'4" tall, wore a blue Chicago Cubs baseball cap, and carried a large bottle of Diet Mountain Dew. _That has to be Carrie,_ Stokes thought; _I'd know that hat anywhere, and I always joked that if you opened her up, Diet Dew would be running though her veins._ He did a double-take, then shook his head and kept on walking.

Nick's suspicions were confirmed later. Catherine was about to hand out the case assignments that evening. There was a woman standing in the corner donning jeans, a jacket, and the same baseball cap. She said that she would like to introduce the newest member of the team.

"This is Carrie Williams, our newest CSI", the supervisor gestured toward the shy hat-wearer.

She shook hands and said, "Nice to meet you", to the majority of them. When she got to Nick, she grabbed the Texan into a fraternal hug. He reciprocated, but it didn't seem heartfelt or genuine. It seemed like he was merely doing what he though he was supposed to do.

Catherine started to hand out assignments. Greg got a break and enter, which he was allowed to do solo. She then got to Nick and Carrie.

"Well, Nick, I suppose that you would like to get reacquainted with your friend. A DB was found near a high school in Henderson. Take Carrie with you." With that, Nick decided that he was going to drive, since he remembered his friend's driving from their time in Dallas and didn't trust her. Besides that, she didn't know the area nearly as well as he did.

During the drive, Nick was very quiet. One would think the old friends would be chatting up a storm, but that simply wasn't the case.

"Nicky, what's eating at you? If there's something wrong, just spit it out," Carrie told him.

"I'm sorry I'm not the most talkative person in the world. Grissom and Sara left, and Warrick is dead. My friends are gone, and I feel really lost and alone right now," the man nearly shouted at his friend. He then started to cry.

"Why don't you let me drive? Just tell me where and when to turn." Nick nodded, and pulled the Tahoe over. They both exited the vehicle, and when he got to the passenger side, she hugged him again. This time, it felt a little more genuine. The friends agreed to talk more about it later, and Carrie went to the driver's side, climbed in, and started driving as soon as Nick was buckled in.

When they reached the school, the Texan took charge of the scene while Carrie took pictures. The victim was a girl that was found lying on the floor of the girls' locker room. Her English teacher asked a girl to go check the locker room when she didn't come to class.

"No obvious signs of trauma, so we're going to have to get her to the morgue to find out what happened", Super Dave told them. The duo nodded, and finished their work. Once everything was done, Nick decided to speak to Carrie about why he acted the way he did.

"I'm sorry I acted that way in the break room. I just felt a little resentful that you weren't around when I was buried alive and I lost Warrick, and I know I shouldn't have felt that way."

"A lot of things happened to me, too. My grandparents died, my brother Jon nearly got killed in Afghanistan, and Tim dumped me. I didn't even KNOW you were in Dallas and besides that, I had been working doubles for two months straight. The first day I had off was when you went back to Vegas", the woman pointed out.

"I guess we're both guilty, then," the Texan commented.

"Yeah, but we're here for each other now." Just then, Nick's phone rang."

"Stokes. Okay, I'll be right there," he hung up. "B&E in North Vegas. Let's drop this stuff off at the lab and get going." Carrie nodded, and they were on their way.

As they got in the Tahoe, the friends began to realize that while they didn't find eachother when they wished they had, it was better than never.


End file.
